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Whats the history of your former/current "garage tenants?"
Looking back at our life journeys and the things that make us who we are can benefit future direction- especially when reasoning is the shortest path to an understanding of those around us.
Never forgetting where you been gives you an Idea of where you want to be going.

In my Daffys SE garage chat thread, luzinit posed a question that really got me thinking, smiling and reminiscing (as well as starting to show my age of what other cars I owned before the Problem Child. After posting a reply to answer as best as I could with a couple of pics of my former auto beasties , it seemed to generate some genuine interest and a bit of insight in some of the other forum members past car obsessions.
I recon a thread is needed to get them vehicular skeletons out of the closets, and find out what motoring history in pictures and stories the vast and diverse congregation of mx5talk forum members have to tell in their journeys- leading to their obsession of owning, driving and modifying their versions of the number one roadster in the history of the world!
There's no need to regurgitate my short story of what I already posted in my garage chat thread, but Here's some of the pics of my prior rides!

The datto 1800, another file photo, but identical except I had black rims, and of course the Problem Child!

My 1984 Sigma Scorpion, Wherrett race prepped NA, after market convertible painted in Ferrari red, the previous owner had a tyre and suspension shop in Sydney, he went all out on the suspension, tyre and brake set up! This thing was quick!

mitsu cordia with a 4g63 and china t3/4 turbo. much torque steer.

Just whilst we're talking Mitsubishi's, I had a cc lancer coupe with a built 4g93t many years ago.

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Love the torana Daffy! Went through three uc toranas in my youth, hj kingy, toyota crown with 7mgte amongst others. It was a ba Mazda astina that got me hooked on mazdas and somewhere in there i had a 'bazuki'....a barina with suziki heart transplant.

Host of cars co-owned with the better half (we're on our third silver wagon in a row, the current incumbent our second C250) but the most recent predecessor to the Jaffa was our first "second car", the Halfacar, a slightly dog-eared '97 Mitsubishi Mirage that got a bit of work done to it that I bought in 2010 and sold in 2014 for not a lot less than I paid for it:
- front strut brace, lower control arm kit, antidive kit
- 15 inch wheels to replace the 13's
- short-shift kit, after market steering wheel and shifter (el Cheapo SCA stuff)
- aftermarket seats, rear speakers, tacho dash, internal LED lighting, a couple of 12v outlets

That thing was hilarious, but jeez you had to work for your speed. I could hold it flat in third the whole of the back way up Coot-tha, and flog it up Nebo/Glorious and sail past the police 10 km/h below the speed limit. Practical, too - came back from a Bribie Island Triathlon with my road bike and tri gear in the back (with the back seat down) and was still able to pick up my wife from the airport and not have her complain about the seating position. With the AC on and flogged (you had to in order to keep up with traffic) it would still get around 6 litres per 100 km.

Even my wife enjoyed driving it, commenting that "I don't know what it is, but there's something fun about that little car"

1976 TA23 Toyota Celica LX (1800) bought second hand in 1990. Just a lovely little car but it had not been looked after and I was not prepared to spend $20K to restore it. If I had had the sense to buy one new I would still have it. A quality product.


1976 FIAT 124 Sport Coupe (1800) Bought new. A real enthusiast car. Superb gearbox and general sporty feel. Unfortunately typical FIAT rust.


1974 Mazda RX4 Coupe. Bought new. Neither quick nor fun to drive. Sold it after 18 months.


1972 Mazda RX2 Sedan. Bought new. Quick and fun. Motor lasted 3 years and about 40,000 Klms.

16bit wrote:mitsu cordia with a 4g63 and china t3/4 turbo. much torque steer.

I already posted this before but well worth the second look! Cordia in uniform

Rocky wrote:1976 TA23 Toyota Celica LX (1800) bought second hand in 1990. Just a lovely little car but it had not been looked after and I was not prepared to spend $20K to restore it. If I had had the sense to buy one new I would still have it. A quality product.


1976 FIAT 124 Sport Coupe (1800) Bought new. A real enthusiast car. Superb gearbox and general sporty feel. Unfortunately typical FIAT rust.


1974 Mazda RX4 Coupe. Bought new. Neither quick nor fun to drive. Sold it after 18 months.


1972 Mazda RX2 Sedan. Bought new. Quick and fun. Motor lasted 3 years and about 40,000 Klms.

Some real classics there Rocky- I always wanted on of them Celicas (the fastback)

(Sorry typing this on phone so may be a little all over the place and I don't want it to sound like a who can p&$$ up the wall highest as I'm not in the league of some above)
Some amazing and special cars there guys, I'm drooling. Mine were built for the track and are not in the caliber of some of those, each had a mod list as long as this post but..
My notable cars are LJ GTR XU1 that was a bit of a dog previous owner put a 253 in and had been "backyarded" badly sold it for ok money to a guy with 2 amazing examples.
Series 2 rx7 with 12A extend port and 48IDA Webber and full moffet kit except the rear spoiler (my NA8 reminds me of this car and I miss it).
S3 RX7 13B Bridgeport with 48 IDA Webber little rough but I bought it as the S3 could have a 13B turbo engineered in NSW so I wanted the vin basically but got bored with it.
Sold it purchased a RX4 4 door fully stripped and rebuilt/restored it great car. 13B peripheral port with a 51 IDA Webber was awesome but would never recommend as a street motor.
S5 rx7 with everything, fully stripped interior, Cusco coilovers RE-Amemiya motor fitted with some sought of large extend port and a modified T04z. massive punch of boost at 5,000rpm, 308kw atw (without N2O) and was pretty quick. I fitted a wet nitrous system to this car and when I sold the car I kept the wet kit for a couple years then sold it as refilling was not easy where I lived and it's a bit of a wank.
After that I wanted a car that was fast point to point rather than straight line and had enough power to have fun. the last RX had too much power to really enjoy it and wheel spin was very common.
So for something different I picked up a mint AW11 MR2 tin top supercharged and focussed on brakes and suspension having great work done by race car technologies. I changed the pulleys for more boost, upgraded intercooler, full exhaust and custom intake. Also fitted a KAAZ diff after busting 1 at eastern creek.
This was a magical car point to point (after I learnt to drive MR) and I would call this the one that got away I loved that car.
I then bought a WRX GC8 and sunk a very very stupid amount of money into it over 9 years, last time on dyno was 335awkw, 2.5L GT3582R ect but I lost interest in it as it's not really a drivers car and the Subaru in the last year of ownership did 13km so it got sold. Power does not mean fun.
I have had many V8s and other little run arounds as daily drivers but nothing worth mentioning. (3 cylinder 1L charade was fun but lol)
I am also a 4wd camping nut and worked in that industry for 7 years and as I know it's not really on topic here I won't go into detail but worth mentioning there is a 55 series landcruiser with a 454 big block, airlockers lifted ect, lady ran into it and it was a write off. A 40 series landcruiser short wheel base with a 351 Cleveland, air lockers lifted ect, a GQ Patrol 4.2L diesel massive lift and lockers was just a toy and good fun and then my current 4wd a 2002 GU patrol 4.2L turbo diesel with everything and I mean absolutely everything built for touring and I love it, takes me to very remote areas with the wife and camper trailer, back to cape York this year for 5 weeks.
And of course my current NA8 this whole car has had a bit of money spent on it lately (I will update build thread shortly I promise) but in short the whole car owes me less than the WRX gearbox is more engaging to drive than all the other Mazdas and probably on par with the MR2 and I anticipate will pass it when I sought the suspension.
Smile per dollar this car is on top of all others I have owned and the wife can take it and I don't have to worry about it "bitting" her.
I do have one massive regret though with my MX-5...... I didn't buy one years earlier.


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Only photos on phone


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I currently have a stock and a turboed MX-5 as well as an old Mercedes E class (daily driver) and an Isuzu NPR300 Pan which tows the race MX-5 and gives me somewhere to sleep. Oh, I've also got an eXcel which is almost a race car.
Previously:
Jeep V8 Grand Cherokee
Jeep 6 cyl Chero X 3
Jeep XJ Wrangler.......all the Jeeps had lockers, big lifts and Cooper or Mickey Thompson muddies in larger sizes.
Nissan GQ...............see above mods.
Daihatsu 4X4
Subaru RS Liberty Wagon
RX-7 ser1 with bridgeport and Weber......and Supra box
1480cc Cooper S used as a tarmac Rally Car - crashed in 1996 Indy Car Rally - mechanicals transferred into a Moke
Nissan Turbo Pulsar
LTD
Rodeo
two or three years between marriages when I just used company cars
924 Turbo
2.4 Celica RWD
Alfa 105 sports sedan.......well under a minute around the Lake
911 RS replica ('73 with 2.7 and big brakes)
Datsun 1600 with L18 and Webers
1275 Moke (Motorkhanas)
924
Sprite 3A
HD
Cooper S

I've missed a few..........but I've had a lot of fun.
My current MX-5s are both NAs. The stock one has done 359,000km, and the modified NA has 230 hp at the back wheels according to NitroDann.
I'm 66 Y.O. and I will have an NA until I wave good-bye.

Alex 2550 wrote:Only photos on phone

Many of us would love to have owned this car.
Can you give a summary of the pros and cons of owning it and how it compares to your MX5?
I like to hear from actual owners of both cars because opinions are usually unbiased after actually living with the cars for long periods (vs a short drive).